Syros is the commercial, administrative and the cultural centre of Cyclades . In the 19th Century Syros become a wealthy and powerful port in the eastern Mediterranean . .
The inhabitants converted to Catholicism under the French Capuchins in the Middle Age. Nowadays, the town is divided into Catholic (left side) and Orthodox (on right side). There are two church on the top of each hill.
The commercial Port, Ermpoupoli.named after Hermes, the god of commerce. In the 19th Century it was Greece leading port and a coal station with a huge harbour and shipyards. The ambiance is a little bit like that of Cheung Chau in the port area as there are many bar , taverns , pizzeria, cafe and pub along the pier.
an Orthodox Church
Look !! this is a real cat, She/he is looking at me ! perhaps, he has never seen any Asian on this island.
隻貓好得意, 呢度成日有貓走過!
The living standard on the island is quite high, thing are pretty expensive. The cost for eating in a restaurant is almost the same as in France .But in France, the restaurants are more elegant. Even in the small gite, those places for individual tourists who drive their cars around the country for exploration.
In Apr - May 2005, we spent almost two months in this small Island in Greece , syros is in the middle of Cyclades . The wind was still quite strong when we arrived in mid-March. This bay is called Azolimnos and it is about 7km from the port, Hermopoulis..There are some small taverns and many Greeks like to have dinner in those taverns.
This is our little white house, those with blue windows frames and our neigbours are all Greek. Some of them are from other islands like Crete . There are three apartmentsal together. Each of them with individual entrance and terrace. We were staying in the apartment on the right hand side from the bottom.
As the Greek comes here for vacations, The facilities are very primitive so, no oven no washing machine. It was the first apartment ever in my life that I have to washed my clothes by hand. Though it is air conditioning, that's helpa lot in May.
The cost is lessthan that of staying in a hotel and we can have our small kitchenette to prepare our own dishes. Every evening dinner was served at the terrace, Very often, I prepared fish or seafood dishes. There were 2-3 cats traspassing our terrrace on the first few nights, checking if we were having any fish for us our dinner.
We knew that if we give them food, they would come back every evening. We were thinking to give them something but at least let us finish our meal.
While we were discussing, one cat came and greeted us Non stop with "mieow....mieow...mieow" . We looked at her and then we discovered she was pregant, so we gave her food every evening. She becomes our friend and nights after nights, 6-8 cats were passing by wishing to share some of the food. In fact, they eat everything, no matter fish or chicken, beef...One of them even came into our apartment. They would search for any bags that I put outside the terrace.
From the terraceoverlooking a small bay on the right and we can see Mykonos and Tinos when the weather is good. Very charming view
